While the rest of the party swirled with laughter and champagne, I was locked inside the luxurious bathroom of my billionaire boss's penthouse—legs trembling, hands gripping marble as his body claimed mine with the intensity only years of power could breed.
If someone had told me years ago that I'd end up tangled in silk sheets and secrets with Kendrick Hale—the man old enough to be my father—I would've laughed in their face.
But nothing about this was funny. Nothing ever had been.
My name is Bekky. I'm 25 years old. And for the past year, I've lived with and worked for Kendrick Hale, the billionaire tycoon who once offered my family salvation…at a cost we couldn't refuse.
My father borrowed $800,000 from Kendrick when I was a baby, hoping to save my mother's life and start a future for us all. When things fell apart, repayment turned into servitude.
Now, I'm his personal secretary by day. And something far more dangerous by night.
I've learned to smile through silk restraints. To moan through shame. To love and hate the man who owns my body—and maybe, just maybe, my heart.
---
The door clicked shut behind him. No lock. There never was. Kendrick didn't need locks when he controlled the air I breathed.
His scent hit first—oud and spice, expensive and sharp—carried by the quiet confidence of a man who had everything and everyone at his feet. He moved toward me without speaking, his dark suit jacket sliding off his shoulders and landing silently on the vanity.
I stood there, trembling, my hands pressed flat against the marble counter, my reflection a blurry mess in the gilded mirror. My silk dress was hiked above my hips, my panties already somewhere on the floor. My body knew this routine—this ritual. But that didn't make it easier.
"You didn't answer your phone," he murmured, voice low and laced with disapproval.
"I was in the meeting you scheduled," I replied, forcing calm into my tone.
His hands landed on my hips, rough palms against soft skin. "Don't be smart, Bekky."
And just like that, the power shifted again. My breath caught as he pushed into me, slowly, deliberately, like he had all the time in the world. My fingers curled against the countertop. I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood.
His grip tightened, pulling me back to meet his every thrust. Each movement felt like a reminder: You belong to me. No one else will ever touch you this way.
I hated how my body responded to him. Hated that the heat between my legs betrayed the fire in my chest.
Because the truth no one knew—not the company, not the society women who flirted with him at fundraisers, not even my own damn father—was that Kendrick Hale had broken me down and rebuilt me into something he could mold. Something silk-wrapped and obedient. Something desperate and addicted.
When it was over, he leaned into my ear, breath hot. "Clean yourself up. And come back to the party. You're wearing my red."
He didn't wait for an answer. He never did.
---
Ten minutes later, I stood at the edge of the ballroom, the crushed silk of my dress clinging to flushed skin. Kendrick was across the room now, laughing with someone important, swirling bourbon in a crystal glass. He looked untouchable. Powerful. Devastating.
And I was just… his.
I sipped my champagne, watching him from beneath heavy lashes, my body still humming from his touch. The weight of it sat in my bones—his ownership, his obsession.
It wasn't always like this.
When I first came to live with Kendrick at sixteen—after my father signed away his rights to a man who dealt in debts like poker chips—I thought I would escape eventually. I imagined I'd finish school, move away, fall in love with someone gentle. Someone who didn't make me feel like my body was currency.
But Kendrick never let me go.
He waited.
He watched me grow.
And on my twenty-fourth birthday, he told me I wasn't a girl anymore.
That night, he tore my innocence apart in the bedroom wrapped in crimson velvet. No apologies. No love. Just possession. And when I woke up the next morning, silk sheets tangled around my legs, I knew I was trapped.
---
A hand touched my lower back, and I stiffened—but it wasn't Kendrick. It was Jonah, one of the younger executives. Fresh out of Harvard, full of ambition and charm.
"You okay?" he asked, eyes scanning my face with genuine concern.
I gave him a practiced smile. "Of course. Just tired."
He leaned in a little closer. "You always look tired. And tense. I mean, if you ever needed someone to talk to…"
I stepped back, the warning bells in my mind going off in sync with the cold voice behind me.
"She doesn't talk to people like you, Jonah."
Kendrick.
His hand gripped my waist like a clamp. Jonah turned pale, muttered an apology, and disappeared like smoke.
"Don't ever let another man stand that close to you again," Kendrick growled in my ear.
"You're not my boyfriend," I snapped, regretting it the second the words left my mouth.
His smile was dangerous. "No. I'm worse."
---
Back in the car, I sat silently while the city lights blurred past the windows. Kendrick loosened his tie, the silence thick between us.
"You embarrassed me tonight," he finally said.
I stared straight ahead. "I didn't do anything."
"You smiled at him."
"He was being kind."
He turned to me, eyes cold and sharp. "You don't need kindness. You need discipline."
I opened my mouth to protest, but he was already dialing his driver. "Take us to the lake house."
My stomach sank.
The lake house meant no staff. No cameras. No escape.